/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.3870688]

Do you think it is possible to physically travel to another galaxy within a reasonable time scale?

[Anonymous No.3870698]

So far the physics says no. So far...

[Anonymous No.3870710]

No, unless you bend/warp space-time

[Anonymous No.3870714]

>>3870710
But that would imply a yes, wouldn't it?

[Inurdaes !V1sPhobos. No.3870715]

If you're traveling at nearly the speed of light, it would be a reasonable timescale for those on the ship.

[Anonymous No.3870720]

>>3870714
sure, find a way of converting electricity into gravitational potential energy

..except you can't without trillions of years

[Anonymous No.3870727]

Yes, you just need to increase the reasonable timescale.

[Anonymous No.3870729]

>>3870715
No it wouldn't, the nearest galaxy is millions of ly away.

[Anonymous No.3870735]

>>3870729
>anon cannot into relativity

[Anonymous No.3870746]

>>3870727
Yes, for billions of years. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous No.3870748]

>>3870729

But it doesn't take millions of years from their perspective because time is relative.

[Anonymous No.3870751]

>>3870729

lrn2relativity

From Earth's perspective it would still take millions of years, but the people on the ship would not experience millions of years of time passing during the trip.

[Anonymous No.3870753]

>>3870735
For the people on the ship it would take millions of years (proper time To). For someone on earth watching them it would take T=To/sqrt(1-(u/c)^2). As U approaches C the earth time blows up to infinity.

[Anonymous No.3870757]

>>3870746
If the timescale can be expanded like that, why not?

[Anonymous No.3870764]

>>3870753
>anon cannot into relativity
You're shit at this.

[Anonymous No.3870773]

>>3870753
>ship recedes from you at very close to light speed
>appears to take infinite time to reach its destination anyway

I don't think you've thought your clever plan all the way through.

[Anonymous No.3870841]

>>3870688
>convert mass of Mars to Energy, 10^38 j.
>send Everest sized ship, 10^15kg
>~velocity=~2100 km/s
>0.7% of c
>arrive at Andromeda in 400,000,000 years.

I probably messed up the calculation somewhere, stupid google instant.

[Anonymous No.3870857]

>>3870841

Andromeda is only 2.5 million LY away. A 0.7C velocity would get you there in approximately 3.5 million years (from Earth's perspective, less from the travelers').

A 400 million year transit time is probably attainable by conventional ion drive.

[Anonymous No.3870933]

>>3870857
how many people would you need on a ship to make it a viable generation ship? as in, how many would you need to eliminate the possibility of genetic defects due to inbreeding

[Anonymous No.3870944]

>>3870933
That's not a problem as you could carry plenty of sperm with you. The real problem is surviving millions of years. Also there's a real possibility that a ship from Earth would just come and pick you up after a while, because we would develop much faster ships eventually.

[Anonymous No.3870972]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/22/faster-than-light-particles-neutrinos

LIGHT SPEED IS NO LONGER THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE VELOCITY OF THE UNIVERSE. WE CAN GO AS FAST AS WE WANT. RELATIVITY IS MOSTLY SHIT.

SO LONG AS RELATIVITY WAS ACCURATE ABOUT TIME DILATION: IF WE GO AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, THE OBSERVERS WOULD EXPERIENCE NO TIME AS THEY TRAVEL FROM GALAXY A TO GALAXY B. THE ASTRONAUTS WOULD SAY GOODBYE TO EVERYONE ON EARTH, BUT THEY WOULD BASICALLY TELEPORT.

SINCE IT IS POSSIBLE TO GO FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, THE ONLY THING STOPPING US FROM EXPLORING THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS THE ENGINEERING PROBLEM: HOW DO YOU GO THAT FAST?

[Anonymous No.3870991]

>>3870944
>200 years into your 400-million-year journey
>USS Enterprise catches up to you to let you know we have warp drives now

[Anonymous No.3871012]

>>3870857
What if we mapped out fast-spinning neutron stars in the Milky Way, and then (careful to avoid the jets from the poles) we steered the space craft to leech off their angular momentum?
The neutron stars are ~4*10^30kg, 15km radius, with 10 milisecond rotational period.

So, we spend 3 or 4 million years arcing past, say, 5 of these pulsars. Given our Everest level mass, an initial speed of 0.7c, and staying 1,000,000 km away from the pulsar at our closest, how much speed would we be able to leech off of them?

We'd still probably die of the radiation, though.

[Anonymous No.3871014]

>>3870972

The neutrino experiments need to be verified and reviewed before we know just what the fuck is going on with them.

Also we know relativity isn't BS because time dilation exists and its predictions hold on macroscopic scales. The GPS network would not function the way it does if relativity were completely wrong. All we know right now is that the theory or relativity may require revision at subatomic scales. This would not be unprecedented. Gravity is already in the same position.

[Anonymous No.3871016]

>>3871012

The detour would probably cost more time than you gain. Plus the radiation would kill or sterilize your crew, and fertility is kind of a big deal on a generational ship.

[Anonymous No.3871020]

>>3870972
<span class="math">\rlap { \lower{-1.5em}{You ~can't~ travel }} \rlap { \lower{-1.9em}{Cant}} \rlap { \lower{-2.5em}{~~~~~~~~can't ~travel~ the~ speed}} \rlap { \lower{0.6em}{of~ light}} \rlap { \lower{0.5em}{of ~~light}} \rlap { \lower{1.9em}{only~ a~ fraction}} \rlap { \lower{2.5em}{~~~~~fraction }} \rlap { \lower{2.7em}{~~~~~~fraction }} \rlap { \lower{3.4em}{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0.999^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9^{9}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} \rlap { \lower{3.5em}{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=1}} \rlap { \lower{3.4em}{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=1}} \rlap { \lower{4.2em}{you~ can ~travel ~at ~the ~speed ~of ~light}} \rlap { \lower{4.25em}{you~ can ~travel ~at ~the ~speed ~of ~light}} \rlap { \lower{4.1em}{you~ can ~travel ~at ~the ~speed ~of ~light}} \rlap { \lower{4.7em}{you~ can ~travel ~at ~the ~speed ~of ~light}}[/spoiler]

[Anonymous No.3871032]

>>3870972
YOU FUCKING IDIOT WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS THE BILLIONTH TIME WE'VE DISCUSSED THIS REPORTED

[Anonymous No.3871064]

>>3871016
Voyager accelerated 6x its initial velocity after leeching off of Jupiter's angular momentum.

[Anonymous No.3871236]

>>3871020

[Anonymous No.3871267]

>>3870748

sigh,
(bends over)

please elaborate. how long would it feel for the crew?

[Anonymous No.3871278]

>>3870748
Yes it does.

[Anonymous No.3871288]

>>3870688
This is not a question of opinion. You can actually do the math and physics to get a ACTUAL ANSWER.

THE ANSWER IS YES.
http://johanw.home.xs4all.nl/PhysFAQ/Relativity/SR/rocket.html

This shit is taught in every college/university in the world. Educate yourself kid.

[Anonymous No.3871299]

>>3870857
>>3870698
>>3870753
ITT: kids that are bad at physics
Getting the wrong answers

[Anonymous No.3871306]

>>3871288
Traveling at sub-light speeds you can reach most stuff in the galaxy in ~10-20yrs (time elapsed from the refernce frame of the person traveling)

4.3 ly nearest star 3.6 years
27 ly Vega 6.6 years
30,000 ly Center of our galaxy 20 years
2,000,000 ly Andromeda galaxy 28 years

[Anonymous No.3871326]

>>3871288
THANKS!!!!!

[Anonymous No.3871331]

>>3871306
28 years to Andromedia Galaxy....WOW.
I need to learn more physics.

[Anonymous No.3873610]

>>3871331
Yes but that means if you ever returned to Earth, you would either find a super advanced civilization or a bunch of ash.

[Anonymous No.3873646]

>>3873610
>/sci/
>thinking I have loved ones, or any attachment to this gay earth
>2011
>etc

It'd be incredible to go there. To be among the .000001% of humanity that ever get to witness such an event and place. Even if we persist, progress, and transcend our petty squabbles, greed, and factions... It's still very unlikely that many (any) of us will ever see it. I, for one, would give, or do anything to be on the crew of that ship. If that isn't possible for me, even if someone else were to get that amazing experience, I would work many hours, days, weeks, years to allow humanity to accomplish this goal...

>but we'll probably destroy ourselves or fall to a cataclysmic event before then, and it won't happen in my lifetime, barring insane advances in tech and lifespan.

:(

[Anonymous No.3873684]

>>3870688
What if we transform planet earth into a giant space craft.

[Anonymous No.3873686]

imagine the historical events you could witness if you had FTL propulsion and a super telescope with perfect deconvolution algorithms. you could watch earth in the past the farther away you go. the religious debates people would have on /sci if that were possible...

[Anonymous No.3873687]

>>3873646
It'll take about twice as long if you want to be at rest wrt the stars in Andromeda, but that's still pretty amazing. The stuff about what you see behind your rocket is messing me up big time.

[Anonymous No.3873689]

>>3873687
Not meant to be a reply...

[Anonymous No.3873691]

Fold space